Motionpoems presents colossal public artwork in Saint Paul

October 10th, 2014

Motionpoems presented a massive, one-of-a-kind audio-visual public art experience at Union Depot Oct 10 – 11, 2014, to coincide with the St. Paul Art Crawl. The project, titled “Arrivals & Departures,” was a compilation of four poems on the theme of “arrivals and departures” by Minnesota poets that were made into four short films by Minnesota filmmakers.

The films were projected across the façade of Union Depot on nine 35’ tall screens hung between the structure’s massive sandstone columns. From dusk to 10pm the films ran on a continual loop for all who happened by.

The work celebrated the beauty and renaissance of the historic Union Depot through a series of motionpoems created using 3D mapping technology to fuse poetry and film into a spectacular community gathering. Plans for the project began in 2012, with an estimated 1,000 hours in production. The poets were chosen from a statewide contest co-sponsored by the Loft Literary Center and included Linda Back McKay, Robert Dougherty, Brian Beatty, and Mike Rollin. Motionpoems worked with Pixel FarmCreative of Minneapolis to digitally map Union Depot and create an architectural template for use by filmmakers. The four filmmakers included teams at Pixel Farm, Browntown Collective and independent artists Nick Clausen and Barbara Weiner.

The project was funded by support from the City of St. Paul, the St. Paul Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a successful Kickstarter campaign and many individual donors.

To inspire a large-scale projection like this in your community, contact todd@motionpoems.com.